FujisashLtd (TSE:5940) Seems To Be Using A Lot Of Debt

Some say volatility, rather than debt, is the best way to think about risk as an investor, but Warren Buffett famously said that 'Volatility is far from synonymous with risk.' It's only natural to consider a company's balance sheet when you examine how risky it is, since debt is often involved when a business collapses. We can see that Fujisash Co.,Ltd. (TSE:5940) does use debt in its business. But the real question is whether this debt is making the company risky.

Why Does Debt Bring Risk?

Generally speaking, debt only becomes a real problem when a company can't easily pay it off, either by raising capital or with its own cash flow. Ultimately, if the company can't fulfill its legal obligations to repay debt, shareholders could walk away with nothing. However, a more frequent (but still costly) occurrence is where a company must issue shares at bargain-basement prices, permanently diluting shareholders, just to shore up its balance sheet. Of course, plenty of companies use debt to fund growth, without any negative consequences. The first step when considering a company's debt levels is to consider its cash and debt together.

See our latest analysis for FujisashLtd

What Is FujisashLtd's Debt?

As you can see below, at the end of December 2023, FujisashLtd had JP¥25.7b of debt, up from JP¥24.6b a year ago. Click the image for more detail. However, it does have JP¥16.2b in cash offsetting this, leading to net debt of about JP¥9.45b.

A Look At FujisashLtd's Liabilities

We can see from the most recent balance sheet that FujisashLtd had liabilities of JP¥42.8b falling due within a year, and liabilities of JP¥27.4b due beyond that. Offsetting these obligations, it had cash of JP¥16.2b as well as receivables valued at JP¥24.3b due within 12 months. So its liabilities total JP¥29.6b more than the combination of its cash and short-term receivables.

The deficiency here weighs heavily on the JP¥12.5b company itself, as if a child were struggling under the weight of an enormous back-pack full of books, his sports gear, and a trumpet. So we'd watch its balance sheet closely, without a doubt. After all, FujisashLtd would likely require a major re-capitalisation if it had to pay its creditors today.

We use two main ratios to inform us about debt levels relative to earnings. The first is net debt divided by earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), while the second is how many times its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) covers its interest expense (or its interest cover, for short). Thus we consider debt relative to earnings both with and without depreciation and amortization expenses.

FujisashLtd's net debt is 2.5 times its EBITDA, which is a significant but still reasonable amount of leverage. But its EBIT was about 18.1 times its interest expense, implying the company isn't really paying a high cost to maintain that level of debt. Even were the low cost to prove unsustainable, that is a good sign. Notably, FujisashLtd made a loss at the EBIT level, last year, but improved that to positive EBIT of JP¥2.1b in the last twelve months. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. But you can't view debt in total isolation; since FujisashLtd will need earnings to service that debt. So when considering debt, it's definitely worth looking at the earnings trend. Click here for an interactive snapshot.

Finally, while the tax-man may adore accounting profits, lenders only accept cold hard cash. So it is important to check how much of its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) converts to actual free cash flow. During the last year, FujisashLtd burned a lot of cash. While that may be a result of expenditure for growth, it does make the debt far more risky.

Our View

To be frank both FujisashLtd's conversion of EBIT to free cash flow and its track record of staying on top of its total liabilities make us rather uncomfortable with its debt levels. But on the bright side, its interest cover is a good sign, and makes us more optimistic. Overall, it seems to us that FujisashLtd's balance sheet is really quite a risk to the business. So we're almost as wary of this stock as a hungry kitten is about falling into its owner's fish pond: once bitten, twice shy, as they say. When analysing debt levels, the balance sheet is the obvious place to start. However, not all investment risk resides within the balance sheet - far from it. For example FujisashLtd has 3 warning signs (and 2 which can't be ignored) we think you should know about.

If, after all that, you're more interested in a fast growing company with a rock-solid balance sheet, then check out our list of net cash growth stocks without delay.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.